The Mech Touch

Ves loved to share his passion with other people.

He had tried to teach his craft to the assistant mech designers of the Design Department on many occasions. Each time he did so, he came away with disappointment.

The Novices and Apprentices were not all that bad. The Design Department had always upheld standards that constantly rose over time as Ves and his lead designers continually designed more and more sophisticated mechs.

It was inevitable for mech designers who used to be third-raters gradually failed to keep up with the growing requirements imposed by the department.

Over the years, a lot of third-raters who used to come from states like the Bright Republic and the Sentinel Kingdom had been forced to transfer to other departments because of reaching their limits too soon.

Ves found it rather regretful that these early loyalists who contributed a lot to the early development of his clan and mech company ultimately had to be pushed away.

There was no other choice, though. Ves and his highly motivated Journeymen could not allow their work to get dragged down by incompetent help.

It was not as if the clan had given these low-ranking mech designers enough chances.

Aside from giving them easy access to the Larkinson Clan's growing internal library, the Larkinson Biotech Institute constantly offered every clansmen increasingly better and more powerful implants to help them perform better.

If these mech designers still couldn't complete their assignments after receiving all of this support, then Ves had no qualms about setting them aside.

It was easy enough to hire more competent replacements to fill up the gaps again.

Still, as Ves continued to speak in front of his attentive audience of Terran mech design students, he gained a considerably better impression of how quickly these eager kids absorbed new knowledge!

Unlike his previous two courses, Advanced Manual Superfab Operation did include a fair amount of technical knowledge.

Ves already had extensive experience with working a first-class superfab, so he was able to instill a lot of handy little tricks and operations that could measurably improve the quality of a work and a mech in particular.

A considerable amount of his lesson content involved a lot of different disciplines. Ves was able to cope with it because he already had several Senior-level Skills, but he was afraid his students wouldn't be able to grasp the full rules of his methods.

The actual situation turned out to be a lot more favorable than he expected. Though Alexa had already assured him that his audience would be able to keep up just fine, it gratified him to see each and every one of them demonstrate their ability to apply his rules and guidelines.

Since this was a practical course, it was not enough to dump a lot of information into everyone's heads.

This was why each of them had spread out across the available space in the mech workshop so that they could have enough space to operate a physical projection of a simulated superfab interface.

There was no need to project a complete superfab for everyone. Ves just wanted them to replicate the methods that he demonstrated as best as possible.

This was also a good opportunity for him to observe and judge the actual fabrication skills of his students.

"Impressive." Alexa Striker spoke as she stood at the side of Ves' projection. "Their foundations are all solid. None of their records have conflated their skills. What is more notable is that it does not appear that any of them are holding back. It is not uncommon for students to hide their full abilities in a class."

"Why would they do that?" Ves furrowed his brows for a moment.

"These would-be mech designers are classmates for now, but it will only take a year or two before they graduate. There is a possibility that they may become colleagues in the future, but it is much more likely for them to become competitors. Any hidden advantage can be used to defy other people's expectations and attain a drastically better outcome."

Ves understood the value of possessing trump cards quite well. He just did not expect it to be worthwhile for these young men and women to scheme so much when they had yet to complete their graduation projects.

Then again, the stakes were much higher at their level. Ves never had to deal with these kind of pernicious games back when he studied at the Rittersberg University of Technology back in the Bright Republic.

It could also be that he was not really good enough back then to attract the attention of the top employers.

"Well, whatever the case, I think you are right in this instance." Ves spoke with a smile. "Even by remote, 1 can feel the passion and motivation radiating from their active bodies. They have become fully engaged in my class."

"I do not blame them. It was not too long ago that they held an actual masterwork product in their hands. The figurine may be just a toy, but it has greatly inspired them. They either want to replicate some of the charm of your work, or seek to push their skills to a greater height in order to win your approval. None of the students want to miss this chance to take a considerable step closer to making their own masterwork mechs in the future."

Ves stopped a short distance away from Klaus Robar-Fulton.

The fourth-year mech design student showed a decent grasp of basic fabrication skills, but he was too slow to pick up the more advanced operations that he just learned.

It disappointed Ves a bit that Klaus did not appear to possess much talent of ability in this aspect.

Alexa knew that her professor had developed interest towards the young man.

"Klaus is struggling not because he is inherently deficient in fabrication, but because he lacks practice. Much of his time is spent on studying all of the theories that he is required to know in all of his classes. It is actually commendable that he has managed to free enough time in his schedule to attend a class on superfab mech fabrication. He has likely chosen to do so in the hopes of differentiating himself from his other competitors."

Ves crossed his arms. "He probably shouldn't have bothered. I am not faulting him for his decision to learn how to make a mech by making use of more affordable equipment, but it is not worth it if it comes at the cost of causing his theoretical foundation to fall behind."

His teaching assistant raised her eyebrow. "Did you not tell your students earlier that they should place as much emphasis on the art of mech design as they do in the science of their discipline?"

"That is correct. I think I also mentioned that it is always necessary to learn how to play the game properly before you think about how to break the rules to your advantage. Mech designers must master their craft well enough in order to free up enough mental capacity for the more esoteric aspects of mech fabrication. If their brains cannot keep up with their work, they will have no room to allow their hearts to run wild."

"I see. That is an insightful remark."

"How are your own fabrication skills?"

"They are most definitely superior to the skills displayed by Mr. Robar-Fulton. I can assure you of that at least, professor."

"That is a rather low bar to compare yourself with, Miss Alexa."

The teaching assistant smiled at him. "Do not dismiss Mr. Robar-Fulton's fabrication skills so soon. He has not displayed any exceptional talent in this field, but he is not inept in it either. He is still a blank slate for the most part. You should be able to train him in person to ensure his skills are up to par if you choose to do so. He can attain much better results as long as he is given enough time and expert guidance."

That was correct, Ves supposed. It was not all that bad if Klaus lacked talent in fabrication. The more essential requirement to becoming a good mech designer was to design a completely working machine.

So long as the design was in place, other people could easily take over the responsibility of producing the mechs.

Ves moved on to observing the adjacent mech design student.

Polina Devonshire demonstrated a far better grasp of the basics. She also picked up on his teachings faster as well.

"Her circumstances are better than that of her friend." Alexa commented. "Her greater natural intellect and her superior augmentations have done wonders to speed up her learning. I am not able to judge whether she possesses any inherent talent in fabrication."

Ves briefly observed a few seconds longer before shaking his head. "Polina's foundation is considerably more solid. She won't be lacking for work in a manufacturing complex. My problem is that there is not much else to see beyond this point. She has done little to explore the charm of creating products by hand. She lacks creative vision or the ability to imbue it into her own work. It makes little difference whether you replace her with an AL"

"I see. That sounds disappointing."

"It's okay. This is not an inherent problem. Polina is still relatively young. Advanced Manual Superfab Operation is precisely geared towards mech design students like her. My curriculum will open her eyes to all of the factors that her previous teachers neglected to teach."

It remained to be seen if Polina would be able to bloom in this aspect. It didn't really matter too much to Ves. He already learned that the woman had already signed a contract that would compel her to work for another organization immediately after she graduated. It was impossible for him to lay his own claim on this future mech designer.

Minutes later, Ves almost froze when he observed the skills demonstrated by a fifth-year student.

Her fabrication skills were solid, but that was not exceptional among many other clever Terran students.

What caused Ves to develop a considerably greater interest towards her ongoing practice was her style!

Unlike her other overworked peers, she consciously attempted to move beyond the basics and attempted to add real personality to her ongoing work!

Doing so increased the difficulty of her operations, but she displayed so much passion that the added challenges did not hinder her from realizing her own vision!

"Kelly McAfee." Alexa mentioned her name. "She is the daughter of an established architect who was brought over from the Terran Confederation to shape the cities of tomorrow. With that sort of background, it should not be a surprise that she has already developed her own artistic vision."

Ves nodded in agreement. "I can sense it in the lines and shapes of her work. It is expressly geared towards shaping the perception and evoking the emotions to those that see her work. She probably designs her mechs as if they are monuments. 1 should know since it is an aspect of my design style as well."

Unfortunately for Ves, Kelly McAfee had also been headhunted by a Terran mech company. There was no chance of taking her under his wing.

This was fine. Ves did not expect to be able to build up an immediate following now that he had started to teach at the Eden Institute.

His own background and reputation were still too underdeveloped for him to expand his presence in the Terran mech community.

He needed to be more patient and focus on taking baby steps.

As long as he taught students like Kelly McAfee well, other people would eventually be able to notice how good he was at teaching.

As his tutelage became more valued, Ves would gain more recognition and gradually open up new doors that were currently closed to a foreigner like himself.

This was just the start. He still needed to prove himself by teaching these brats how to fabricate a mech with style. This was going to be a long journey.